It was the summer of 1913, and Cora Kensington’s life on the family farm has taken a dark turn. Not only are the crops failing, so is her father’s health. Cora is carrying on, helping her mother run their Montana farm until a stranger comes to call, and everything changes. Cora then learns a secret that will radically change her future: she is the illegitimate daughter of a copper king who has come to claim her.
Cora is invited to take the “Grand Tour” of Europe, a journey intended to finish a person’s education, to solidify an understanding of ancient culture and contemporary refinement. As she travels from England to France with half-siblings she’s never known, Cora encounters the blessings of the Kensington family name, as well as the curses. But when an unbidden love begins to form, she realizes the journey is only beginning.
Faced with the challenge of accepting her father, new family, and the identity that comes with it, Cora also struggles to accept that she is also the daughter of the one true King-a Father who is the only One who can truly heal.
*******
I loved this book and on a scale from 1 to 5 stars, give it a firm four star rating.There was a lot that I liked about it.
Cora has a lot to deal with from the start of this book. She is attending school to become a teacher when she is summoned home to find that her father is very ill. She goes from struggling to save her farm in near impossible circumstances to having to deal with the fact that they will most certainly lose the farm.
In a new spin of the Cinderella story, Cora’s real father is revealed to her and Cora is forced to agree to meet her siblings and take the Grand tour with them in order to get the only father that she has ever known the treatment he so desperately needs.
I liked Cora’s personality and that there is fight in her as well as a sense of what is right and what is not. She is thrust into situations where the popular notion of what is acceptable does not match her own and she is not afraid to speak her mind. I also like that Cora is not running towards this new life of wealth but only accepting it cautiously. The clashes that result whenever Cora; accustomed to pulling her own weight, and the pampered Kensigton children and friends come together are also fun to watch. Cora attracts a lot of attention and has several suitors to deal with as well.
William is one of those hired to show the youths around on their Grand Tour. I loved William’s character, he has this position, known as a bear, because this is what his uncle does and what he has been trained to do, but he wants to be an architect. It is interesting to see how he deals with his longing to follow his dreams and his inability to do so. This same longing crops up in regard to how he begins to view Cora as the book goes on.
This is the first book in the Grand Tour Series and I am very interested in knowing where Cora, William and the the others on this Grand Tour will continue.
will be available as a FREE download from 6/4-6/8!
You can view other reviews for this book here: The blog tour schedule
This book was provided by Amy Lathrop and Christen Krumm of Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for my honest review. No monetary compensation was exchanged.
